Candy Heart
by LisbethDreams
Summary: Elizabeth celebrates Valentines Day, in her own way.


**Sweet Love**

Red construction paper trailed across the floor. Spilled glue lies drying under the dinning room table. Elizabeth hates leaving the mess but a quick scan at her watch shows that they are running late for the party.

"Cameron, hurry up," she yells at her eldest son. "We're late."

"Coming Mom," Cameron cries racing downstairs as he puts on his jacket.

Elizabeth picks up Aiden in his car seat and holds the front door open.

"Don't forget the Valentines cards"

Cameron grabs the pile of homemade heart-shaped cards. His favorite, "On Fire", was the top card. He was going to give it to Theresa, a fellow inmate of General Hospital's daycare. It was based on a box of candy hearts his mom gave him and Jake for snack the other day.

He's quit proud of the card. He rushes out and slams shut the front door as he bounds down the stairs. "Hey, I wanted to sit behind you mom," he yells when he sees Jake in his spot.

"I'm not moving Jake's booster seat. You get the passenger side. Now hurry up."

"I don't understand why Aiden gets the middle. It's the safest part of the car. I get stuck in the dangerous seat."

Elizabeth rolls her eyes as she closes her door and buckles her seat belt. "I'm not having this conversation with you again. Aiden has to be in the middle because he's the littlest. Buckle up. Are you buckled?"

"Yes Mom."

Elizabeth backs the car out of the driveway. She catches site of Cameron flipping through the cards as she looks backward. Life was so much simpler at that age. She sees the words "Sweet Love" before she turns her eyes forward.

"Sweet Love" when was love ever sweet she wonders. If she thinks about a sweet romantic love the answer is a long time ago. If she thinks about nuzzling a freshly bathed Aiden's neck it was only last night. Sweet love never stops it just changes and sometimes it sneaks up on you.

She drops the boys off at daycare and began what was supposed to be a short shift. Complications during the surgery made it take eight hours instead of four.

"Great job in there Elizabeth," Patrick tells her as they leave the OR for the locker room. "I'm always glad to have you on my side during a difficult surgery. It's like you read my mind, we make a good team. Thanks for coming in today just for this."

"Thanks doctor."

He asks, "Are you doing anything special for Valentines?"

"No. The boys are at their dads. Lucky picked up the older two after his shift and Nik was going to take Aiden for a long weekend after the board meeting. What about you?"

"I'm going to take my little girl out on a date. I asked her where she wanted to go and she says 'Donalds'. It's going to be the cheapest Valentines date I've had in many years."

Elizabeth laughs, "Cheapest and most fun. Are you going to one with a play room?"

"Of course. Only the best for Emma." Patrick takes a small pink box out of his locker. "Here it isn't much. Emma gave me three of these this morning. So, Happy Valentines."

Elizabeth takes the box of candy hearts from him. "Thank you."

"Your welcome. I hope you find something special to do for yourself this evening."

Elizabeth pulls her coat out of her locker and pulls it on. "I was just going to go home. But you are right. I should do something great for myself. Maybe I'll buy myself a bouquet of flowers and maybe I'll treat myself to a nice dinner out all by myself."

"Go for it, you're worth it."

* * *

**Table 4 1**

Elizabeth stands in line at the Metro Court Restaurant. She feels a fool for coming alone and without a reservation on Valentines Day. She fidgets with the skirt on her dress and is just about to turn around and leave when her arm is touched.

"Elizabeth dear, Edward and I would love it if you joined our table."

"Thank you Monica, I will," she says following Monica to her table. "I was just about to leave, I felt a little foolish trying to get a table for one on Valentines."

"Nonsense," Edward says in greeting. "If you want a table for one, I'll get it for you. But you'd be doing an old man good if you joined us."

Monica sighs sadly, "We're both singles too." She waives over a waiter and asks for a place setting and menu for Elizabeth.

Edward laughs, "It's been awhile since I've had a date with two such beautiful women. We should make this a habit. Of course if you find some young man you would rather spend Valentines with we will understand."

"Edward I could happily make this a habit with or without the young man."

Edward touches Elizabeth's hand. "Thank you dear."

Elizabeth is starting her salad when she sees Nikolas and Brook Lynn being seated at a nearby table. She wonders why he left Aiden with the nanny again. What's the point of taking Aiden for bonding time if all Nikolas is going to do is hand him off.

Monica catches Elizabeth's expression and follows her line of site. "You still care for him very deeply don't you?"

Shocked Elizabeth murmurs, "Yes. He's my best friend and I love him. I could probably even fall in love with him but he's not interested in me anymore. I can't even rekindle our friendship. Don't get me wrong, I deserve this. I treated him pretty badly for a long time. I was honest with him, or at least as honest as I was being with myself, but I still treated him badly."

Edward interjects, "All is not lost my dear. He may be with Brook Lyn now but he doesn't look at her like he used to look at Emily, or even dare I say you. Long term friendships can sometimes fall apart, but that doesn't mean the friends won't find each other again."

"I left things too long. I told him no. Sometimes you lose the thing you want when you do that. But you know what, you may also discover something new that you want." She looks around the table, "Like this. Having a wonderful Valentines dinner with friends."

For the rest of the meal Elizabeth forgets the other table, she laughs and has fun with Edward and Monica. Edward even gets her up to dance. During the second waltz Nikolas taps Edward on the shoulder, "May I interrupt?"

Edward stops and looks at Nikolas. "That's up to Elizabeth."

Elizabeth turns Edward's head back to look at her and says truthfully, "I've learned my lesson. I'm a one man woman and Edward is my date this evening."

She forgets the interruption quickly, never noticing the admiring glances from most of the men in the restaurant and missing the fact that Nikolas couldn't keep his eyes off her.

* * *

**Be Mine**

It's a cool, crisp Northern New York February evening and Elizabeth fond herself not wanting to enter her empty home after dinner. She leaves her car in the driveway and walks towards the swing-set. Impishly she skips a few steps along the way. She sits and swings, pumping her legs hard.

The cold winter air makes goosebumps break out on her nylon covered legs. She looks up at the nearly full moon and sings harder. She had forgotten how much fun this could be. Sure she brings the kids to the park but rarely does she join them in this type of play, usually she's pushing one of them.

Her mind empties of all worries and cares as she swings. She just enjoys being. Until the cold gets to be too much. She stops swinging and heads towards the house. She puts her gloved hands in her coat pocket for extra warmth and discovers a half-eaten box of candy hearts.

"Dessert," she says digging into the box.

"I've missed you," she hears from out of the dark. Surprised she jumps and drops the box of candy hearts into a pile of slush. She turns to find Nikolas sitting on the porch swing.

"I've missed you too. But you know that. I've mentioned it once or twice."

"I know," he says standing. "I've been an ass."

"Yes you have. Not that I didn't deserve it, the sauce for the goose."

"Is that why you turned down the dance?"

"No. I was enjoying my time with Edward. I meant what I said about learning my lesson. I want us to be friends again Nikolas, to be easy with each other again. I'm tired of the game. I wanted more when I returned from California but for now friendship is enough."

Nikolas stands and moves close to her. He laughs ruefully. "I thought you were going to tell me that I didn't stand a chance, that you couldn't love me as I wanted to be loved. So I preempted you, I shot myself in the foot trying to protect my heart."

"We're two of a kind you and I. I pushed you away out of fear too."

Nikolas leans closer and puts his hand on her shoulder. "People like us should stick together, so we don't hurt the innocent; people who may not understand who we are, what we do."

She laughs, "You're saying we should protect people from our particular brand of hell."

He smiles, "Something like that. Shall we cry pax and friends?"

She thinks for a bit and agrees, "Just friends, at least for now. I want to try out the new me for awhile."

He gives her a kiss on the cheek, looks like he wants to say and do more but nods in agreement. "Happy Valentines Elizabeth. Now I had best get home before the mother of my youngest son reprimands me for not spending the evening with my boys."

"You had better, I understand Aiden's mother can be a heartless bitch."

Nikolas calls back to her as he walks away, "Don't ever talk about my friend like that. She's got a heart, a beautiful heart."

Elizabeth waves goodbye and briefly wonders if she made the right choice. She looks into her house, seeing the evidence of her little men, the other people who depend on her, she looks back at Nikolas briefly and thinks, "Yes. I've got my friend back and if it's meant to be more, it will happen."

Contentedly she hugs her coat to herself and goes into her home. She doesn't notice the abandoned candy box in the slush, nor the broken and dissolving hearts. Two hearts remain whole, "Luv U", and "B Open".

*fini


End file.
